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It’s been a busy fortnight since my last post and I’ve been so caught up with travelling to woolly festivals and spending time with my family, that there hasn’t been much time or energy for much in the way of knitting.

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Well I’m a firm believer in using materials you actually like when your learning something, rather than opting for a more economical choice. Yes, this does mean you may well end up throwing something into the bin, that with a little more experience under your belt, would be positively gorgeous. Then again, there’s also the chance that if you dislike the materials you’re using so much, you might actually be turned off of the idea altogether.

I’m telling you all this in order to justify using this yummy woolly goodness to try and learn a new technique, well actually two as it happens.

I was chuffed to bits that I’d managed to get hold of it, because at the time, the print run had all but sold out. Since then there has been a reprint, so I’m imagining you might still be able to pick up your own if you’re interested?

With the second issue due out any day, I thought I should get a post about it written up toot sweet.

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It’s a bit of a long story that actually begins with The Tour of Britain, which kicks off today and runs until the 11th of September. For those of you that don’t know, it’s an 8 day event, that will see some of the world’s top riders, race on UK roads in British Cycling’s premier road cycling event.

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Last Friday, the 18th, was Cuture Night, with loads of events taking place all over the country and abroad between the hours of 5-11pm. There was so much going on it was hard to choose where to go and sadly it was for one night only, but wool will always win. So Deirdre and I drove to Dublin for an evening of fibre fun. I said we drove, but what I really mean is Deirdre drove and I got to sit and knit which was great and much needed 👍

Lovely Culture Night Folk Drumming Up Support

So what can I tell you about Friday? Well we ate, listened to some buskers, met loads of really interesting people and……

I can’t tell you that can I?

It’s magazine stuff 😉

Having got back to Lismore in the wee small hours, I managed to squeeze in some zzz’s before heading into Cork City on Saturday morning. My mission – to seek out and find people whose wares we wanted to know more about.

No visit to Cork City is complete without a visit to the English Market to purchase a few supplies and the odd treat 😋 Coconut chocolate anyone?

Having found what I was after, which took much longer than planned and meant I missed my monthly meeting of The Spinners, Weavers and Dyers Guild (naughty, naughty), I headed off to Kinsale for yet more detective work.

Having never been to Kinsale before, I was charmed by it’s little winding streets and rows of quirky shops. The sun was shining down and all was good with the world.

Again, I have to keep everything to myself. Sshhh, it’s a secret.

Fair’s fair, I’ve been so caught up in ‘Olann and’ work, that I’ve barely found time to spend fibre crafting. That is of course if you don’t count the two hours I spent knitting in the car 😁 So today, I promised myself I’d take an hour, yes a whole hour and do a little spinning, as I’ve barely managed to do any more since my post about Buttercup eons ago.

I cued up Paul Simon’s Greatest Hits on my IPod, moved the chair under the office window, so I could bask under the Septemmber sun and got comfortable (so did Buttercup) and I continued spinning up the brown fibre I’m practising with. It wasn’t long before the timer on my phone was chiming to let me know an hour had passed 😦

I’m really pleased with the results though 💗

I managed to spin this much yarn 💗 💗

and it would seem, I’m a default fine spinner too 💗 💗 💗

I kept trying to make my yarn thicker, but I just couldn’t maintain the consistency. So fine it is. I’ll just have to ply more strands together if I need a thicker yarn?

As an added bonus, I’m sure to get a little knitting in tonight too. I’m meeting up with some knitterly friends for tea, cake and laughter, what more can a girl want? I know, Dina (my daughter), will be there too 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖

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Usually, I’d begin a part 2 blog post with something like ‘As you might recall’, but as Part 1 went up yesterday I’m not sure that sentence has the right tone about it?

So…

Having been with the lovely Nancy Devlin, fibre enthusiast, tablet weaving, Viking extraordinaire for the morning, we paused our fibre fun and games to have a spot of lunch.

After which, Nancy brought out a few of her spinning wheels for me to get to know.

Ignoring Buttercup skulking in the corner, I sat in front of and attempted to spin on Nancy’s Louet wheel first. It’s an S10 and unlike my Ashford Traditional, Nancy’s Louet has two treadles, so your foot work feels a little more in union. I’m not sure if it was the double treadles, the slightly bigger orifice or the change of scenery, whatever it was, we bonded instantly.

Now when I say bonded, I don’t want you to think that I suddenly found I could spin and my yarn was beautiful, consistent, neat and tidy, because it was anything but. I did however, manage to gain some sense of coordination and draft my fibres whilst treadling.

Feeling more than a little pleased with myself, I moved on to see if Nancy’s Ashford Traveller Wheel had anything more to offer. Again it’s another double treadle wheel, it’s more compact in order to make it easier to transport. The orifice on the wheel sits a little higher than on the Louet, which along with the double treadles means I had to sit in a much more upright position. As you can see I’d become totally immersed in what I was managing to do, the concentration on my face saying it all.

All the time Buttercup was watching me from the corner of the room…….

At this point I could have well moved through the ranks of Nancy’s wheels, seeing if they had anything more to offer me, but I couldn’t cope with the guilt any longer. I’ve been around for 43 years and I know only too well that things don’t fix themselves. With no getting away from it, it was time to meet my relationship problems head on.

We either had to fix the problem or part ways.

Me and my wheel. Buttercup and I ♥♥♥

Look how we bonded.

We spent the rest of the afternoon together and I found it hard to pull myself away from her. When I eventually did, my back ached from spending hours sitting so upright.

Note to self – need to take more breaks.

We actually got on so well, that I managed to spin enough yarn to have a go at plying, before heading home the next morning. I went back to using the Louet wheel again simply because it has a larger orifice and I wanted to check if I did prefer using the double treadles.

That smile, is one of pure joy. Not only did I leave Nancy’s with a hank of slightly over spun, 2 ply yarn (all my own work), I’d managed to fix my relationship in the process.

Since returning home Buttercup and I have been spending lots more time together.

Oops….

Wrong photo (how embarrassing)

That’s better

If you look closer at the bobbin, you can even see how much my spinning is improving.

They (who I’m not sure), say you need to spin at least a pound of fibre before you truly get the knack of it. I have approximately 2lb of the brown fibre, so hopefully I’ll be well on my way by the time it’s all used up. Then I’ll allow myself to have a go with something a little prettier.

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I’d like to introduce you to my ‘friend’ Buttercup. Isn’t she beautiful?

She’s an Ashford Single Drive Traditional Wheel and according to the Ashord Website she’s robust, versatile, easy to understand and simple to operate.

None of which even comes close to describing how I feel about her.

I expect you can probably feel my complete l♥ve for Buttercup, exuding through your screen right now if you concentrate.

It hasn’t always been this way. Buttercup and I have had a very turbulent past.

Despite living together for a good number of years now, Buttercup and I have spent the majority of that time ignoring each other. She very rarely budged from her seat on the landing window, except maybe for a quick wash, or if I was feeling particularly uncaring, maybe just a wipe over with the duster.

Things however, have changed.

Buttercup came down off her perch a couple of months ago and with dogged determination I took her in hand and attempted to spin once again, with the help of various different books, websites and Youtube videos.

Nancy pictured here, in her Viking garb (she’s into living history, totally fascinating, more to come in another post), is a fibre fanatic too and the proud owner of several different spinning wheels.

Nancy and her husband Paul, are based in Co. Leitrim, which is a bit of a distance from where I am in Co. Waterford. So I arranged an overnight visit and Buttercup and I jumped into the car and drove the three and a half hours, stopping on the way at Belvedere House for a cuppa and a very generous helping of Pavlova.

Nancy has recently started to offer workshops in lots of different fibre crafts including drop spindle spinning, tablet weaving and knitting and having spoken to Nancy over the phone, I knew we were like minded people and were going to get along famously.

A visit to Nancy and Paul’s house could leave you in no doubt of how much they enjoy making things. The shelves of the kitchen are stacked with pots of home-made jams and jelly’s and the smell of fresh baked bread wafts around the house. The walls are bedecked in woven wall hangings and the sofas are adorned with crochet rugs. When I arrived Nancy was busy making traditional furniture polish, with wax from the bees Paul keeps and turpentine.

That evening I even tagged along to move a hive with Paul. Fetching don’t you think? Personally, I think I look like Wallace from Wallace and Grommit in this photograph – flattering it is not, but we’re all friends here aren’t we?

I digress.

Nancy knew I was keen to learn as much as possible during my time with her, so we tried to cram as much in as possible. We started at the beginning, examining fleeces and comparing a well kept fleece to one that had been stored in pretty dire conditions. Those of a weaker constitution might have had to leave the room at this point, but it’s important to know what your looking for, if you’re going to be buying a fleece direct from the farmer.

We then got stuck in with our arms deep in water up to the elbows, as I learnt how easy it is to wash a fleece. Thankfully it was more a case of submerging the fleece and leaving it to soak in the water, rather than the battle I’d envisaged when Nancy first suggested it. The whole process took a number of hours and I was really quite surprised how clean the fleece came up, after only a couple of rinses.

Whilst we left the fleece to soak, we moved onto learning how to card fleece using a drum carder, by feeding in the fibres and turning the handle to rotate the drum.

A far less labour intensive method of carding than using the hand held carders, I can assure you.

I had a play with cleaned fibres and fibres from a fleece in the grease (unwashed). The carded fibre in the photo below are a combination of merino and fleece in the grease.

Once I’d got the hang of using the drum carder, I had a play with a drop spindle and some fibre. I have a couple of them myself at home and I can spin this way, but I’m rather un-coordinated to say the least. Starting with a drop spindle, is a great way to get the hang of drafting your fibre.

If you’d like to know more about spinning with a drop spindle there are lots of really helpful resources in the form of books, tutorials and Youtube videos, but if you go to a workshop with someone like Nancy, you’re going to learn their tips and tricks.

I had been enjoying myself no end but everything was moving me towards having to spend some time with Buttercup. Unconvinced as I was, that Buttercup and I would be able to mend our relationship, I’d decided to see how some of Nancy’s other wheels and I got along first.

A little bit like speed dating I guess. So I sat down opposite……

I think that’s enough for now don’t you?

You’ll have to wait for Spinning a Yarn – part 2 to see what happened next.

I’m off to have a spot of breakfast before catching up on the latest episode of The Great British Bake Off and finishing off a sock I’ve been knitting.